Michelle O'Connor poses with her NAHA awards in January 2019 after winning in the Texture and Avant Garde Categories.

NAHA (North American Hairstyling Awards), the competition considered by many to be the most important beauty competition in the United States, is right around the corner. Submissions are due by August 8, 9 pm EST.  Soon after that, selections will be sent to judges who will then pour over the entries. Finalists will be announced on Nov. 14, 2019 who are then invited to attend the awards ceremony which will be held on January 25, 2020 during the ISSE show in Long Beach, California. 

There has been quite a bit of buzz about the judging panel for the 2020 NAHA. Several months ago an invite was sent out to the industry at large and potential judges submitted their credentials. Hundreds volunteered their expertise and the PBA (Professional Beauty Association - the producers of NAHA) narrowed it down 121 qualified members of the salon and spa worlds that according to the press release, "continue a legacy of fairness, diversity and elevation of the beauty industry."

So who made the cut? Included among the judges for this NAHA are former winners, influencers, top artists and MODERN's own Alison Alhamed and Maggie Mulhern (see the full list below.)

MODERN checked in with PBA to learn more about the new judging concept, and received answers to the following questions:

How has the judging changed this year? We are always looking for the best in the industry to be involved with NAHA. This year, we decided to do a call for judges to get more of the industry involved. Also, since NAHA is produced by the Professional Beauty Association, we wanted to make sure judges were members.

How are judges selected? A small committee of industry experts reviewed all of the applications and selected the most qualified. 

How many judges are there? The final selection was around 130.

Please share an overview/breakdown of the judges (for example: 10 former winners, 10 editors, 15 international…anything like that): Our final list of judges includes previous winners, finalists, editors, photographers, top salon owners, industry icons, renowned stylists, nail artists, and makeup artists. 

Who does the initial judging before sending the top 5 out to the final judges? A small committee of top industry pros conducts the first round of judging. These NAHA experts are verifying all competition and category rules were followed, and the work is NAHA quality. Then, those selections are expanded out to the larger second round, who choose the finalists. The final third round group selects the winners in each category.

JUDGES (in alphabetical order):

1. Tara Acosta                                                    

2. Liza Adams

3. Renee Africa

4. George Alderete

5. Alison Alhamed

6. Dedra Allen

7. Misael Aponte

8. Carolyn Aronson

9. Chris Baran

10. Snooky Bellomo

11. Tish Bellomo

12. Katie Bennett

13. Chrystofer Benson

14. David Berglass

15. Charlie Brackney Love

16. Amy Burness

17. Dr. Tye Caldwell

18. Tara Carrano Mcvety

19. Andrew Carruthers

20.  Ammon Carver

21. Dustin Cash

22. Eveline Charles

23. Michelle Cicora

24. Lauren Conway

25. Michael Shaun Corby

26. Angel Del Solar

27. Lindsey DeMith

28. Michael Devellis

29. Jamie DiGrazia

30. Christopher Dove

31. Shantel Dye

32. Jamal Edmonds

33. Larreta Exson Stevenson

34. Tammy Felice

35. Eric Fisher

36. Chaune’ Nicole Fitzgerald

37. Lupe Flores

38. Amy Foreman

39. Amy Freudenberg

40. Sean Godard

41. Jeffrey Grissler

42. Martin Gugliotti

43. Cheryl Gushue

44. Andrea Hans

45. Pat Helmandollar

46. Franco Hernandez

47. Timothy Howard

48. Patsy Howser

49. Shawna Indahl

50. Christian James

51. Sherri Jessee

52. Linda Jordan

53. Danielle Keasling

54. Coral Lahiani

55. Liz Lee

56. Ann Leibman

57. Peter Leuzzi

58. Ashlee Levitch

59. Mia Liguori McHugh

60. Morgan Longford

61. Liza Macawili

62. Hali McCord

63. Missy Megginson

64. Rudy Miles

65. Andrea Miller

66. Beth Minardi

67. Tracy Mueller

68. Maggie Mulhern

69. Katie Nielsen

70. Patricia Nikole

71. Tamara Obregon

72. Joe Oliveri

73. Kendall Ong

74. Colleen Paiva

75. Lilliam Penaloza

76. Carrie Perkins

77. Cherry Petenbrink

78. Jalia Pettis

79. Galyna Poczciwinski

80. Stephanie Polansky

81. Wanza Poole

82. Steven Porter

83. Joanne Powers

84. Susie Powers

85. Charlie Price

86. AnneMichelle Radcliffe

87. Robert Reed

88. Alexis Rivera

89. Steven Robertson

90. Lynn Saden

91. Maria Sandoval

92. Valerie Schaubroeck

93. Dorothy Seitz

94. Candy Shaw

95. Annie Shell

96. Tonja Shingu

97. John Simpson

98. Stacey Smoker

99. Mio Sota

100. David Stanko

101. Nick Stenson

102. Kelly Taggart

103. Florencia Taylor

104. Tina Thomas

105. Jessica Tiddes

106. Starlette Tolver

107. Chloe Tran

108. Jill Turnbull

109. Anna Vaul-Holaday

110. Sam Villa

111. Lisa Von Kurvink

112. Jeff Wacker

113. Steven Waldman

114. J-Travis Walters

115. Kenneth Washburn

116. Jamie Wiley

117. David Winterhalter

118. Lisa Yamaskai

119. Lori Zabel

120. Victoria Zegarelli

121. Ivan Zoot